It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
Our son turned 19 on Friday. We had a chilled day that day and didn’t do a lot at his request but yesterday he and his dad went to a college town a couple of hours away and explored the town, visited a comic shop, had breakfast and lunch, and just generally had a great time.
The Boy picked up this awesome double record of Johnny Cash at a used book/record store.
The Husband found this for me at a store —
I used to drink these all the time in college and was thrilled to have a bit of a blast from the past.
We call him “The Boy” by the way as a sign of affection because he is the only boy grandson out of seven grandchildren on my husband’s side. Someone my husband knows was afraid the term would offend our son (she was very polite in her concern), but we mainly only use it online and sometimes my husband will jokingly say, “Where is the boy?” when he walks in the house. We obviously call him by his given name offline.
I also don’t use his real name on my blog to protect his privacy a little because I used to use it and … it was sort of weird for him, even though I no longer share anything too personal about his life here. He wasn’t angry about me using his real name but I felt like I should protect him and Little Miss as they grow. They are okay with me occasionally posting photos at least.
Today we plan to go to my parents and have lunch with them and make apple pie together for The Boy’s birthday, which is a tradition because he is not a cake fan.
On Friday night, our cat Scout was unable to put weight down on her back paw.
All the vets around her in the Middle of Nowhere Land are closed for the weekend so we’ve tried to make her comfortable until we can get in somewhere. If she were yowling the whole time and it was clearly broken, we’d call the emergency line of the vet we usually go to. For now, she’s just extremely angry we won’t let her outside, so I am guessing she’s going to be okay.
She also bit me this morning while I tried to see if there is something in her paw or if it had been cut. We think, however, that the paw got pinched between the bed and the wall when Scout tried to curl up with Little Miss on Friday morning.
I am not the type of person who can handle a cat being in pain or upset, so this has been emotional for me. Having a new kitten in the house has also thrown things off, and our eldest cat has been angry and hissing and also trying to bite. I’m about to take them all to the no-kill shelter and be done with it, but, of course, I really can’t do that. They are family, and we just need to adjust to living as a family with a new member.
I am reading my first book for my Nancy Drew November, The Mystery of the Fire Dragon. I will have it finished today. Honestly, it’s pretty good other than Nancy getting hit in the head AGAIN and no one taking her to the hospital AGAIN. This time it was a flowerpot that fell from a third story window. In reality she’d be dead.
I am also reading Rebecca by Daphne De Maurier. Earlier this week I mentioned on Instagram that I was reading Rebecca by didn’t say by who and some very young Bookstagrammer said, “Oooh…what’s that?”
I felt very old. Another person thought I was reading Rebecca Yaros and said they loved Fourth Wing. Siiiiigh.
I’m really enjoying Home the Harmony by Phillip Gulley. I was reading it before bed the week before last but laid it aside most of this week to read Nancy Drew and Rebecca. Last night I picked it up again and ended up laughing so hard at one part. The book isn’t really a cohesive story, but a series of short stories about the same characters, with the main character being a Quaker minister. I am fairly certain I read part of this book if not all of it when I was in my 20s, and it seems familiar, but I don’t remember a lot of it so it’s like reading it all over again. I am enjoying it and would recommend it for a light, humorous and touching read.
Coming up, I hope to read another Nancy Drew, but my husband also picked me up a fancy copy of The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie. I’ve never read or heard of this one so I might bump one of my planned autumn reads to read this one instead.
After that, probably more toward December, I want to start My Beloved by Jan Karon. I am so excited for it but my mom loves Jan Karon so I let her read the copy The Husband bought me first. She hasn’t shared what she thinks of it yet, but I hope it is good.
Little Miss and I are reading a Civil War-based book right now for school called Secrets of Civil War Spies by Nancy LeSourd.
This past week I watched a movie called Storm in a Teacup with Rex Harrison and Vivien Leigh. I believe it was released in 1937 and is an English movie. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed seeing both actors when they were so young.
I watched a couple of later episodes of Murder, She Wrote, my farmer (Just A Few Acres) on YouTube, and more The Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries from the 1970s. The Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries are both good and horrible at the same time.
I just wanted to leave a little note to thank any of my blog readers who have taken the time to read my cozy mysteries, the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries. Those stories are fun for me to write, and I appreciate anyone who indulges my little hobby. I would love to say writing books is more than a hobby but for now it’s essentially a time consuming hobby and I’m finally okay with that.
I am working on book four, Gladwynn Grant Goes Back to School, and it is taking me a while but I do have much of it outlined so I am hoping I can get it finished and released by February.
I have links to the books at the bottom of this post.
This week on the blog, I shared:
- Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot November 7
- Comfy, Cozy Cinema: The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down a Mountain
- Top Ten Tuesday: Ten books I randomly grabbed off my shelf
- Nancy Drew November
- A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Bookish Link Up For November
Now It’s Your Turn
What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
This post is linked up with The Sunday Post at Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, The Sunday Salon with Deb at Readerbuzz, and Book Date: It’s Monday! What are you reading hosted by Kathyrn at The Book Date. Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Reading Reality.
Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.
You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.
You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.
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That is a very gorgeous copy of Agatha 😍
Poor kitty! They do get grumpy when their feets are hurting – my mom’s Siamese had a bad habit of cutting his paw on something (we never did figure it out), and he’d be such a fussy baby when we tried to clean it and make sure it wasn’t getting worse.
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Lisa, I enjoyed your Sunday Bookend. It’s quite a journey to witness how fast our children grow up. I’m planning to crack open a Zane Grey frontier trilogy.
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I still need to read Zane Grey. I think I will try him this winter. I liked the Louis L’Amour I read and hope to read more of his too.
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I bought the first of your Gladwynn Grant books, but I haven’t read it yet. I intend to.
My mother read nothing but gothic novels, and I ended up reading everything she had in the house, hundreds and hundreds of gothic novels, so I just can’t bear to read a gothic novel like Rebecca again. Overload, I guess?
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Oh darn, I forgot to say Happy Birthday to The Boy in my last comment. Hope he had a great day with that pie. One of my grandpas didn’t like cake for his birthday either but always wanted pie. One time my grandmother invited people over for his special day and everyone brought pie. Grandma then sliced up the pies and put a piece from each of them on a huge platter and that was Grandpa’s birthday “cake.” This all happened before my time but was a story my Mom loved telling about.
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That sounds like an awesome treat for your grandfather! What a fun idea.
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I laughed so hard at several of the stories Philip Gulley wrote in the book I read. Very witty and humorous. They were so funny to me that I read them aloud for my hubby.
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I wanted to read them to someone but it was late at night and everyone else was asleep so I don’t think they would have appreciated that.*wink*
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Birthday wishes to your son! My 19yo doesn’t like cake either, he generally has an icecream cake for his birthday.
I hope you cat is okay
Wishing you a happy reading week
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I hope the cat is better soon too. I called two vets today and neither could get us in for a few more days. She’s able to sleep and hop around and even managed to fly out the front door to try to escape today. My daughter had to carry her back and she wasn’t happy but now she’s sprawled out in the warm house snoozing away.
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Hope Scout’s paw feels better soon. Why do they always hurt themselves at the beginning of a weekend or late at night??? At the moment I’m shut in my study with little Willa, whose favourite place it is, while Percy roams the bathroom, hall, landings and stairs (two lots of each) and Matthew’s study to get a bit more room and to air the bathroom, which has been getting damp with Percy just shut in there all the time. Sigh. Some good reading there; I am on a book about Nigeria and democracy for bed reading and a soap star’s slightly odd autobiography for meal reading. Well, I’ve just finished the latter; I think I have something about Indigenous peoples’ use of plants next.
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Yes, they definitely pick the worst times. I called two vets today and neither could get us in fast but since Scout is mostly sleeping and has been able to hobble around okay on three legs, we’re okay with the wait for now.
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Happy Birthday to your son!
And talking about birthdays (and Rebecca) … we are very old, but it goes so quickly these days. The other day a young woman told me about how old her boyfriend feels when talking with youngsters – he is 22!!
I hope Scout’s paw will be healing soon and things will calm down between the kitties!
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It’s been nothing but drama with the animals today. The local vets can’t get us in for at least two days and the older cat hates the injured cat on normal days but really hates her now that she’s hurt and attacked her twice today – once while she was trying to use the cat litter. Then the injured cat flew out the door while I was trying to get the older cranky cat out the front door to calm down. Little Miss had to chase her down and she tried to bite Little Miss. Fun times!
And that 22 year old saying he didn’t understand youngsters? Gah. Please. lol.
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Congrats on your son’s 19th birthday!
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Thank you!
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Happy birthday to your son! When my kids were little (there were three of them), they fell into one of two categories, the Big Ones or the Little Ones. My daughter was in both. It’s funny how we did that, and I don’t know why it even started. I have got to start reading some lighter books. I just finished Grady Hendrix’s Wayward School for Witches or something like that. For a Grady Hendrix book, it was definitely lighter so there’s that. I have been watching The Great Pottery Throw Down after Mike goes to sleep. We watch Orphan Black which is just strange. I hate when a show has a premise in the first season, and then it veers off into weird territory in later seasons. But, we’re invested so we’ve got to finish it to see what happens.
Hope you have fabulous week and your kitty is better.
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
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The Great Pottery Thrown Down sounds interesting! I can only seem to read happier books right now. My spirit can’t take anything too heavy. Yes,, yes I know I read murder mysteries but they are usually lighter ones and at least there is justice at the end. *wink*
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Congratulations to The Boy on reaching 19 – it’s a shock to realise your child has reached certain ages and I think that’s one of them:). And I’m sorry to hear that Scout has hurt her paw – I hope it soon recovers for everyone’s sake.
Have a great week, Lisa.
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Thank you and yeah, it’s a bit of a shock he’s that old. I’m glad we had a nice time celebrating him, though. The cat is still injured but doesn’t seem worse. The vet has suggested we watch her a couple more days, see how she’s acting, and then bring her in if things are not better. If she was yowling constantly or stops eating then they said I should call back.
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I hope the cat soon shows signs of improvement – it’s always miserable when our fur babies feel poorly:(.
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It’s not much better today so we are off to the vet either tomorrow or Thursday.
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Oh dear:((. Fingers crossed it’s nothing too serious, Lisa.
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Happy Sunday!
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Thank you! Hope you had a nice one!
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Happy Birthday to your son!! I hope you all are enjoying your pie and your day together!! And I’m thankful that you share your writing “hobby” with all of us!
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Thank you! We really enjoyed our pie and had a wonderful weekend. The kids made two pies with my mom and even a mini-pie to bring home.
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Nancy Drew seems to keep the interest of a lot of no-longer-kids. I loved the series when I WAS a kid, but have not really gone back to it much. I’ve never read the 21st century new ones.
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Happy birthday to your son, mine is 20 1/2, so close in age. I am sorry that Scout’s paw is aggravated, hopefully it heals quickly. I was at the Dollar Tree yesterday and they had SO many Nancy Drew books and Hardy boys books (not the original covers, but the updated ones). Thought I would mention it in case yours had them as well. Have a great week!
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Thanks for the tips on the books! yeah, this growing up thing is hard for mom and the kid, I tell ya’!
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Happy 19th Birthday to your son. Have a great time with your parents today. I’ll be praying that Scout will be okay.
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Thank you. We had a good day! We are hoping Scout will get better. the vet said to give it a couple more days and see how she’s acting and if she still can’t put weight on it, to bring her in.
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A lovely read. I hope all is soon well with the cats! I need to find a more conversational voice for my (new) Sunday posts…
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Sometimes I think I am a bit too conversational! Ha! I’ll have to check out your new Sunday posts. I was so behind on blog posts but have set aside time to read some this week because that’s something I enjoy and relaxes me.
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